Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Why do the souls in purgatory suffer so? An answer from St. John of the Cross

The month of November is
dedicated to the poor souls in purgatory. These holy souls are assured of their
salvation and enjoy the possession of the three theological virtues, and yet
they suffer greatly. Indeed, excepting only the pains of hell, there is no
suffering which can compare with that which the souls endure in the purifying
fires of purgatory.

The one consolation of
purgatory would be the fact that it is only temporal and not eternal suffering
which must be endured. Indeed, every soul in purgatory will eventually enjoy
the beatitude of heaven. However, the souls which languish there are not
consoled by this thought, for it seems to them that their purgation will go on
forever. While they do truly possess the theological virtue of hope (and so are
certain of their salvation), yet they are overcome by the thought that their current
sufferings will go on forever and that God has abandoned them.

This is the teaching of the
mystical doctor, St. John of the Cross. His experience of the dark night of the
soul gave him light in this point.

Dark
Night of the Soul, book II, chapter 7

Speaking of the sufferings
which those who on earth suffer the dark night of the soul must endure in order
that they be purged from every evil impulse and desire, St. John of the Cross
compares this to the sufferings of purgatory. Indeed, the dark night of the soul
is a veritable purgatory on earth, just as the unitive way is a quasi-heaven in
the soul even while she remains upon earth.

“This is the reason why those who lie in purgatory suffer
great misgivings as to whether they will ever go forth from it and whether their
pains will ever be over. For, although they have the habit of the three
theological virtues—faith, hope and charity—the present realization which they
have of their afflictions and of their deprivation of God allows them not to
enjoy the present blessing and consolation of these virtues.

“For, although they are able to realize that they have a
great love for God, this is no consolation to them, since they cannot think
that God loves them or that they are worthy that He should do so; rather, as
they see that they are deprived of Him, and left in their own miseries, they
think that there is that in themselves which provides a very good reason why
they should with perfect justice be abhorred and cast out by God for ever.

“And thus although the soul in this purgation is conscious
that it has a great love for God and would give a thousand lives for Him (which
is the truth, for in these trials such souls love their God very earnestly),
yet this is no relief to it, but rather brings it greater affliction. For it loves
Him so much that it cares about naught beside; when, therefore, it sees itself
to be so wretched that it cannot believe that God loves it, nor that there is
or will ever be reason why He should do so, but rather that there is reason why
it should be abhorred, not only by Him, but by all creatures for ever, it is
grieved to see in itself reasons for deserving to be cast out by Him for Whom
it has such great love and desire.”

How greatly do the poor souls
need our prayers! They cannot help themselves and they know not how long they
must yet suffer. As we come to the end of the month of November, we would do
well to gain a plenary indulgence for their succor through visiting a cemetery and
offering prayers in their behalf.

Eternal
rest grant them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest
in peace. Amen.

St. Catherine of Genoa contradicts John of the Cross. She says the happiness of souls in purgaroty is greater by far than the greatest earthly happiness. I believe her work is available online. Just search Purgatory and Catherine of Genoa.

It is tragic that the teaching of purgatory is largely non existant in the Church post Vatican II. How the Saints in purgatory suffer because there are not prayers for them. May Our Blessed Mother pray for the Saints in the Church Suffering. May Masses be said to quicken their entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. +JMJ+

The souls have seen, at the moment of the particular judgment, the Reason Incarnate for our faith, hope, and love. Faith is no longer needed, since they have seen Him. Hope is no longer needed, per se, since they understand that heaven will be theirs, having been pointedly assured by their Judge in His Mercy. Only love remains, the desperate, woeful love of one who finally and beautifully requites the love that God has for her, but is held back from being with her Beloved: the frenzied, sorrowful love of the Magdalen beseeching anyone in the dawn garden to help her find Him, to allow the force of her love to rest upon and with its Object. This is abject torture (we feel a glimmer of this here on Earth when we crave God or our loved ones) and is the great flame to be endured, the flame -- let us not kid ourselves -- commingled with the other flame, the flame of the crucible: the flame that burns away the impurities of the sort of sins the soul indulged in while enfleshed on Earth, in the parts of the body, mind, will and soul in which those sins were centered. This second, yet simultaneous, flame is sensory pain, most probably, but the soul is so focused on the distant Object of her affections that she not only hardly takes notice, but gladly submits to it: like a dove whose pinions are being burned in real time, she cares only for the soft Hand of her Master over yonder, and notices nothing else. Lord, mercy. We are afraid but trust You.

"The one consolation of purgatory would be the fact that it is only temporal and not eternal suffering which must be endured.... However, the souls which languish there are not consoled by this thought.... While they do truly possess the theological virtue of hope (and so are certain of their salvation), yet they are overcome by the thought that their current sufferings will go on forever and that God has abandoned them."

@Charles,They do have joy and peace, but this is a very interior sort of joy and peace which does not carry with it the consolations which delight the soul.

However, I would point out that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are actions which proceed from the Gifts ... since the souls in purgatory are wholly passive, they do not exercise the acts of the fruits, but they do possess the gifts in a high degree.

It is notable that according to St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787) we may piously believe in the power of the Holy Souls to intercede for us through God making our prayers known to them. This statement comes from his book on prayer called "The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection" which is available online.

I think it would be all together extraordinary (not impossible) for a poor soul to intercede for us.In any case, the Church does not pray to the poor souls, but only for the poor souls.(though, private individuals are free to pray to the poor souls, I suppose).

How would one have a love so great as to give a thousand lives or have such intense suffering due to deprivation without first having at least glimpsed God in a much more profound way than through the dark glass of this life? When St. John experienced the Dark Night, hadn't he already been brought to an intimate relationship with God through an unfolding revelation of Himself that included many consolations in the process? My take on the Dark Night was partly a weening from the consolations which themselves can become a seriously derailment. It strips one of any remaining attachments leaving only the love and trust with a will totally conformed to the Divine Will.

-Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves.

-But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God.

-The transforming “moment” of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart's time, it is the time of “passage” to communion with God in the Body of Christ.[39] The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

-The souls of the departed can, however, receive “solace and refreshment” through the Eucharist, prayer and almsgiving.

I thought I remembered reading in "Life Everlasting" by Fr Garrigou-Lagrange that the main cause of suffering of the Holy Souls is that they know they will see God and desire this so much. In other words, the fact that they know they will experience the Beatific vision is the cause of their suffering... am I misunderstanding this? Is this compatible with the idea that the Holy Souls believe they may never be relieved of their sufferings?

Fr., you may be interested in there having been an indulgenced prayer asking for the intercession of the Holy Souls.. It was indulgenced under Leo XIII, but removed in the 1930's. cf pg 513 of this http://www.archive.org/stream/newraccoltaorco00religoog#page/n522/mode/2up

There were also several plenary and provincial councils that taught they could intercede. So while I am inclined to St. Thomas's opinion here, there is some support for an opinion that they can intercede